


This Whole Fucking Chemical Other Thing

by SandrC



Series: (K)Nights Alone [1]
Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Character Study, I promise, Lenny is the drunken uncle who knows way too much about old music, TAZ: Nights, The Adventure Zone: Nights, Tom is my son, Troth is my wife, YOU WON'T REGRET IT, i love these walking disasters, please become a donor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-26
Updated: 2017-03-26
Packaged: 2018-10-10 23:40:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 450
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10450140
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SandrC/pseuds/SandrC
Summary: I know this. This I know. All that I have, all that is me, resides inside my poetry. Every time I write a rhyme it might be the line that sets minds free. And also I know that—I don't know shit!(Or: the soon-to-be leaders of the Beasts are more alike than they realize.)





	

**Author's Note:**

> *blows a kiss at Griffin* Fuck you. That was for Johan. I'm still salty about this. I don't think I will ever not be mad about that.
> 
> Ah well...as they say: kill your darlings.
> 
> Anyway, this has nothing to do with Johan or the whole...Hunger shit going on in TAZ: Prime at all! This fic has to do with the precious disasters in TAZ: Nights. My lovely family.
> 
> I feel like they have a lot more in common than they realize. Not just Lenny and Tom (which is its own can of worms) but Troth and Tom as well as Lenny and Troth. They mesh well because there's a small bit of them that looks broken on its own but fits gently into a niche within one of the others.
> 
> Title and summary are from the song 'i Know This' by Rachel Kann. I love that song.

Tom Collins was a nervous man by nature. Being half-elf didn't help—as they tend to be neither accepted by elves or humans—but the pact he made with the Ancient Old One really made things hard. People didn't like you if you were a warlock with a fae pact, let alone one with an immeasurable and ancient forgotten deity that wishes nothing more than to devour the brain stems of the unworthy. So, under the pretense of being a wizard, he lied. He lied about his magic. He lied about his clothing. He lied about himself. That's why he got along so well with Lenny.

Lenny Manolito was a liar by nature and a thief by trade. Despite refusing to admit it, most of his music was ripped off of someone else's talent. The Faganblaster was really the only truly unique thing he could call his and even that was an alteration of something that already existed. Life was hard enough playing music at Tom's dad's bar, but when he was blackballed, it got even worse. Busking on the merchant's tier didn't end well. Usually, if he was lucky, he could pick up a few silver springs, but otherwise only a few copper coils came his way. That would be enough for food—if that—and maybe a bath. Or a lay. It depended on the moment. So he was useless and he was worthless but his self-esteem was all he had. His self was all he had. Maybe that's why he understood Troth like he did.

Troth was, by birth and by blood, an untrusting woman. Her name was meant to remind herself that she needed to believe in others and trust them, but when people would just as easily toss you out on your tail as look at you, it was hard. And it was harder when the way that more human people's brains and faces worked were complete enigmas. Monks were easy. They had two things they needed to do: bring peace and do not kill. But humans? Thieves? Guards? Royalty? They all are separated. They all are 'above' or 'below' one another, both figuratively and literally. Why were they not equal? Weren't they all human? Or human-like? It made no sense. But she tried. And that's what she shared with Tom.

The three could not have been any less likely heroes. They were even less likely leaders of the Thieves' Guild. But there they were, being guided by the disembodied voice of the very deceased Canis through the Gauntlet, and they were winning. And they were growing. And they were bonding. And soon they would be something far greater than the sum of their parts.


End file.
